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Sir Walter Scott
WOODSTOCK or THE CAVALIER (1826) Reviewed by Patrick Killough I. Review for
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RATING OF WOODSTOCK: * * * * * (Five Stars) TITLE OF THIS REVIEW: A Combined Detective Story and Spy Novel of The Merry Monarch Sir Walter Scott began writing the last of his 'English' novels, WOODSTOCK, in early 1826. With his assets now in a trusteeship because of huge debts just incurred by the collapse of his business ventures, Scott officially revealed his authorship for the first time to a wider audience. It is a great, well constructed, fascinating tale. WOODSTOCK, like several other Scott novels, has elements of a detective story. Who is the mysterious young Scotsman disguised as the page of the son of Sir Henry Lee, Keeper of the King's Lodge at Woodstock near Oxford? What makes Presbyterian preacher Nehemiah Holdenough so sure that his repose at the Lodge was disturbed by the ghost of his old student friend from Cambridge Joseph Albany? Clues enough abound to unravel these and other disguises. More notably, however, WOODSTOCK is a 'spy' story. Doctor J.A. Rochecliffe, Anglican rector of Woodstock before Cromwell's triumph in the Civil War, is the spider at the center of a Cavalier network supporting young King Charles II, now fleeing for his life. The Doctor in turn is spied upon for Cromwell by Joseph 'Trusty' Tomkins, who had another name when a hell-raking youngster before the Civil War. Tomkins is a double agent, available to whoever currently pays him the most. There is some basis of fact behind this tale. There were strange ghostly doings reported by Parliamentary Commissioners, including Oliver Cromwell's brother-in-law, sent to inventory Woodstock Lodge. Charles II was never there and was not almost trapped by Cromwell. But things might have been so. Walter Scott was a great student of character and motivation. What if, he asked himself, the poltergeist events at Woodstock Lodge had been staged by defeated Royalists to drive out the Commissioners and provide a refuge for King Charles before he could flee to France? What if Oliver Cromwell had laid a trap for Charles at Henry II's old hunting lodge at Woodstock, where he had kept his mistress the Fair Rosamond? What if the Lodge Keeper Sir Henry Lee had a nephew who had gone over to the rebels against the King. It makes sense. King Charles, in his very early 20s, is already the prodigious ladies man he will always be and tries in vain to seduce Sir Henry's virtuous daughter Alice, who gives him a lecture on what it means to be a king. Oliver Cromwell leads in person the pursuit of the harried Charles Stuart and gives way to depression, rages, remorse and bouts of megalomania. This one of the best of Walter Scott's novels about the troubled Stuart Dynasty of Scotland and England. -OOO= OTHER RECOMMENDED READING: Sir Walter Scott, PEVERIL OF THE PEAK, THE LADY OF THE LAKE, REDGAUNTLET. Dallas, Texas 01/27/2007 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- II. for amazon.com RATING of this novel: * * * * * (FIVE STARS) TITLE of this Review: A Dog Named Bevis Takes Part in a Dangerous Moment in English History, January 28, 2007 Reviewer: T. Patrick Killough (Black Mountain, NC United States) - See all my reviews WOODSTOCK is set in the year 1652. Months earlier at the battle of Worcester, the Republican General (and future Lord Protector) Oliver Cromwell had definitively stamped out the last resistance by "the King of Scotland," Charles II, son of the beheaded Martyr King Charles I. Thirty-two year old Charles II is in full flight for the coast to find a ship to take him to his exiled mother in France. Cromwell promotes a plot to lure the young King to the ancient Royal Hunting Lodge at Woodstock, near Oxford, still (but not for long) in the hands of its hereditary custodian, Sir Henry Lee. Toward novel's end, Cromwell in person has led select troopers to surround the Lodge, but too late by three hours. The King has successfully fled. In a rage General Cromwell orders execution at high noon of every captured Cavalier and one Roundhead Presbyterian whom he blames for the King's escape. In this number he includes Sir Henry's loyal mastiff, Bevis! Fortunately, the General's aides, familiar with his bouts of melancholy, fits of rage and inevitable repentance, delay the sentence and all are pardoned, even, last of the lot, the dog Bevis. We are introduced to Bevis in Chapter One, in which is described the desolation of the old chapel of Woodstock Lodge, defaced by the recently victorious anti-Royalists. Sir Henry Lee was grateful to his loyal pet for saving his life and had taken him regularly to church. Bevis sometimes even sang along with the chorus. Later Bevis is steadily suspicious of Charles II when the young man appears at Woodstock, disguised first as a gypsy fortune teller woman, then as a page speaking outlandish Scots and finally openly as King. In particular, whenever Bevis is at hand to growl, Alice, beautiful young daughter of Sir Henry, is never in danger, from Charles's unending efforts at seduction. Oddly the mastiff (or bloodhound) takes well to "Trusty" Tompkin when he appears at the Lodge as an agent for Cromwell's three Commissioners deputed to take possession of this hated symbol of deposed royalty. It turns out that double-agent Tompkin had before the Civil War worked at the lodge as dog-keeper and assistant to the Anglican rector, an antiquarian writing the history of Woodstock. WOODSTOCK is a love story of two first cousins whose parents are on opposite sides in the civil war. It is also a story of two divines now enemies who had once been best of friends when brilliant students at Cambridge University. Finally, WOODSTOCK is a novel of the Christian religion in Scotland and England unwinding itself into chaos as the sects contend to force all Britons to worship God "their way." Throughout WOODSTOCK the dog Bevis moves gravely in and out. Cromwell has spared Sir Henry Lee because Lee is faithful to his King. And Bevis is faithful to Sir Henry. Cromwell wishes he had at least one follower who loved him as much as this dog does Sir Henry. At novel's end in 1660, 16-year old Bevis sits by his master's side during King Charles's triumphal procession to London. Having been shown special signs of regard by His Majesty, the old cavalier prays the nunc dimittis and dies a happy man, followed in a few days by Bevis. WOODSTOCK is wise in its portrayal of various sects and the appeal they have to wide varieties of men, humble and noble. The great and contrasting historical figures of Oliver Cromwell and King Charles Stuart spring to life on feet of clay. A most enjoyable reading experience. Your tags: oliver cromwell, king charles ii, woodstock lodge, the fair rosamond, roundheads, cavaliers Dallas, Texas 01/28/2007 III. for epinions.com THIS REVIEW'S TITLE: Hot For Blood, General Oliver Cromwell Personally Pursues The Fleeing King Charles II of Britain by aohcapablanca, Jan 29 '07 WOODSTOCK, or THE CAVALIER (written in 1826) is the last in a series of historical novels by Sir Walter Scott to be set in England. Commonwealth rebels against Monarchy, led by Oliver Cromwell, still just a General but soon to be Lord Protector, have executed the Stuart King of England Charles I and decisively defeated his young son Charles II at the battle of Worcester. Charles II is fleeing for his life, trying to reach a port from which to slip away to France and be with his exiled mother and to find asylum with his cousin King Louis XIV. This is historical fact. Also factual although from a slightly earlier time is a series of eerie encounters at the ancient Royal hunting lodge at Woodstock near Oxford. Three Parliamentary Commissioners, including Cromwell's brother-in-law, are sent to inventory Woodstock Lodge with an eye to taking some of the contents as their reward. While staying there for several days and nights they are assaulted by poltergeists, sulfurous fumes, noises and apparitions. Soon enough they move out. Based on those few facts, WOODSTOCK is a "what if" kind of novel. What if Cromwell thought he could lure the fleeing Charles II to the old Cavalier stronghold of Woodstock Lodge? What if he had a double agent, Joseph "Trusty" Tomkins, on the staff of the three Commissioners reporting to him on the schemes of a Royalist priest Doctor J.A. Rochecliffe? That divine knows all the labyrinths of the lodge created by King Henry II and the tower he built for assignations with his mistress, the Fair Rosamond. What if a group of Cavaliers deliberately staged the apparitions and frights to drive the Commonwealth Commissioners out in order to create a safe house for the young King? What if the hereditary keeper of the Lodge, Sir Henry Lee, had a beautiful young daughter Alice? What if Alice loved her first cousin Cromwell's Colonel Markham Everard who, with his father, had gone over from the King to the Roundheads? Walter Scott takes what we know of the flight of King Charles after Worcester, of his strengths and weaknesses (in later life he acknowledged 14 illegitimate children) as well as similar psychic components of General Oliver Cromwell and asks "what if?" What would happen if Charles systematically tried to seduce Alice? What if he was constantly prevented by a loyal hound named Bevis? What if Cromwell decided to spring the trap in person on the young King at Woodstock? What if? What if? The result is a notably well crafted tale with elements of the preternatural, of a detective story, of a spy novel and with large doses of religion, politics, loyalty, romance and resounding debates about Shakespeare, morality and friendships. The double agent Trusty Tomkins, once a young rake, now a middle aged convert to one of the weirder and more debased forms of Christianity thrown up in the Civil War, denounces Shakespeare (the favorite writer of the Cavalier stalwart Sir Henry Lee) as the principal source of all that is evil in England (Ch. III). When Sir Henry withdraws the hand of daughter Alice from his once beloved nephew Markham Everard for going over to Cromwell, the latter asks Alice "to tell your father he had forgotten nature in his fantastic spirit of loyalty (Ch. IV). On politics: the conservative Walter Scott rejects the scheme of some of the more theory-minded Commonwealth rebels to create a pure, egalitarian republic in Britain. The land was too extensive. And "there is such an infinite difference betwixt ranks, habits, education, and morals," not to mention disparities in wealth. A British republic would of necessity be extremely unstable (Ch. XI). On civil war: a learned Presbyterian minister, Nehemiah Holdenough, believes that he saw die in battle a Royalist divine, once his very best friend during happier pre-Civil War university days at Cambridge. Holdenough warns Markham, "Oh, master Everard, your trade of war should be feared and avoided, since it converts such (i.e., peaceful Christian) men into wolves towards their fellow-creatures" (Ch. XVII). The period before, during and after the English Civil war, say 1630 to 1660, was seminal both for Britain and British North America. Virginia stayed notably loyal to the Monarchy. But John Milton, Thomas Hobbes, James Harrington and others looked elsewhere and took the occasion to ruminate on order and chaos, the beastly side of human nature and on human rights. Walter Scott's WOODSTOCK is a striking fictional introduction to the Civil War's aftermath and what the times would have been like for people both great and common caught up in its disruptions of ancient ties of trust, fealty and religion. -OOO- Pros: Profound Insights into two key figures of history: Oliver Cromwell and Charles (II) Stuart Cons: More explanation of fine points of religion (Chapter XI) than the plot demands The Bottom Line: Read WOODSTOCK! For its smooth writing, nuances of a key period in history, its dissecting of good and evil in every character, for romance and a canny mastiff named Bevis. Overall Product Rating: * * * * * (FIVE STARS Excellent) Recommended: Yes -OOO- Dallas, Texas 01/29/2007 |